Start Up Series #3: E-Mail Marketing Tools for Startups

Email marketing is dead, said many a few years back and yet, here it is – very much alive like it was just yesterday. While some may think that it is old-fashioned compared to social media and mobile marketing, you’d be surprised that with the help of a strong content marketing strategy, email is more powerful than ever.

Why is Email Marketing Important for Your Start Up?

Put it this way: You can either break it or make it with email marketing as it is still considered a vibrant and powerful way of connecting with people. This is why it works best when it’s personalised to your recipients’ actions and communication. Whether you like it or not, everyone is trained to do something with an email – to reply, forward, or even buy straight up. Unlike social media, there is no guesswork. You know exactly which campaigns are performing well and where to make improvements. Did you know that 91% of people use a smartphone to check their emails? That’s a big opportunity for your business to connect with the connected customer. Think about it!

Really… Should You Do Email Marketing at All?

With the right platform, you will be surprised that it’s cost-effective. When ROI is around 4,300%, you may want to reconsider investing in an email marketing platform with your prospects’ best interest in mind. The last thing you want to do is annoy them with email pitches that are downright spam. That will not work. Here are our favourite 5 Email Marketing Tools to help your startup build that valuable exchange with your target and existing customers:

Send better emails with Mailchimp and access an impressive range of features and integration to help improve your email marketing campaigns over time.

When it comes to email marketing, measuring the results of your campaign is a must. Mailchimp provides great visual representations of your email campaign data in several formats that help you view subscriber activity, social stats, click performance, advanced reports, or an overview of everything. Getting insights is key to a successful email marketing campaign.

Simply put, Mailchimp is your central hub for all things email marketing. You can also enjoy social sharing, sleek and quirky templates, and user-intuitive dashboard. You can easily segment your lists and test, or explore more features and functions that make email marketing enjoyable for both beginners and experienced marketers alike.

About: MailChimp has grown from a side project in 2001 to becoming the world’s leading email marketing platform used by more than 10 million people and businesses around the world. What’s unique about this tool is that it makes email marketing a fun experience for both users and their recipients.

Get Response is the world’s easiest email marketing platform that offers a complete suite of simple, powerful, scaled and customised solutions for small and large businesses.

If you’re looking for an email marketing software that costs less than most out there, Get Response may be the perfect option for you. This platform is easy to use and has nearly all the tools you need to run a successful email campaign – for less. You will also have access to comprehensive autoresponder features like action or information-based messages.

Get Response’s reporting tool is one of the most detailed out there. This tool also prides itself with a spam-free solution to achieve a 99% deliverability rate, which is the highest as per industry standard. What sets this email marketing platform unique is the ability to create landing pages, edit images, come up with responsive design, build forms, host webinars and send emails at the time when most people are to open and click.

About: Get Response email marketing platform helps organisations drive effective, high-impact campaigns that produce results. Used by more than 350,000 customers in 182 countries, this email marketing tool helps entrepreneurs grow their business with robust features that you don’t see from others.

Features:

Drag and drop email editor

Email and landing page templates

1000+ iStock photos

Multimedia studio

Forms/online surveys

Single opt-in list imports

Advanced search and segmentation

Custom fields

Real-time activity tracking and data exports

Mobile and global views

API and social media integrations

What We Love:

Time optimisation for each email subscriber (Perfect Timing)

Responsive/mobile-friendly landing page creator

Webinar hosting

List building program to grow your list to 10,000 subscribers in as little as 90 days

AWeber helps you build connections that last with an email marketing service that lets you stay in touch with customers and prospects in their inbox.

If you’re looking for an easy and intuitive autoresponder setup, AWeber is the tool of choice for you. With powerful features like the ability to add video to your messages, the balance between simplicity and robust functionality that doesn’t require a high learning curve may be great for those who are just starting out.

There are hundreds of templates to choose from when it comes to customisation options that lets you create and send engaging emails in just a few minutes. AWeber also gives you flexible options when it comes to list segmentation, autoresponders, integrations, reporting and analytics.

About: AWeber was founded in 1998 and has now grown into an opt-in email marketing service used by over 120,000+ customers worldwide. Get all the tools you need to create an email campaign, connect with your favorite apps, or look for pricing that works for your needs in one place.

Features:

Drag and drop editor

Easy-to-use form designer

Plain text and HTML options

Split testing

Mobile app/dashboard that lets you see stats and sent messages, schedule

Constant Contact empowers small businesses and nonprofits to grow and succeed through email marketing.

Constant Contact makes it easy for anyone to create an email campaign. With hands- on support and resources at your fingertips, you can get started in 3 steps: Create the look, select your audience, schedule and send. If you need expert help, they can assist you with your own branded and customised template or have a one-on-one call to give you a personal product walk-through.

Although a cross-platform inbox preview may not be available, you might want to take advantage of CSS or XHTML to create your designs. No coding skills? You can choose from their many templates to customize no matter. Constant Contact’s advanced features give you that boost in terms of marketing beyond your inbox and driving business through live events, trackable coupons, online surveys and many more.

About: What started as Roving Software in 1995 became today’s valuable marketing tool that helps small businesses compete with big brands. Constant Contact has since grown to a leading provider of email marketing and online survey tools for small business owners, associations and nonprofits.

Features:

Simple drag and drop editor

Professional, mobile-responsive and customisable templates

Personalised emails and autoresponders

Straightforward contact management

List building and segmentation

Social and mobile sharing

Apps integrations

Customer surveys

What We Love:

Customer-milestone triggered emails that send the right message at the right time

Pinpointe is email marketing on steroids with its feature-rich, cloud-based email marketing service for B2B companies.

Crafting an email marketing campaign that yields the best results takes trial and error. Pinpointe makes this process less painful with their split testing features, autoresponders and triggers. You can easily manage your subscriber list and in time, makes the process more hands-free. While the cheapest monthly plan is set for 5,000 contacts, you can collect an unlimited number of subscribers and organise your list for your future drip-marketing campaigns.

Pinpointe understands well that there’s no one size fits all solution for opt-in email campaigns and this is why they came up with two editions: Professional (for small or medium businesses) and Enterprise. Depending on your needs, you may explore with a demo account, request a free demo tour, watch their video, or contact their product specialists for assistance.

About: Pinpointe brings big business features, services and email marketing automation to small and mid-sized B2B marketers at an affordable price. Pinpointe offers robust solution in helping you nurture and deliver quality email communications with your prospects and customers.

Pricing: Pay per number of contacts – starts at $49/mo Pay per email – starts at $245

Free 15-day trial

Want To Stay on Top of Your Email Marketing Campaigns?

Driving customer-centric experiences starts with the right message for the right person at the right time. The closer you hit this target, the better the results. This 2016, behavioural targeting is on the rise, where automated broadcast messages are sent to various buyer segments. If you want to automate successfully, you should find ways to integrate personalised messages with your canned emails. We’ve seen a few brands push the envelope further by experimenting with interactive email designs, like clickable or moving elements. The option is limitless and you won’t know if it will work or not unless you put your creativity to the test.